Police pay snub was ‘punch on nose’

BRITAIN’S top police officer yesterday attacked ministers for refusing to back a chronically over-stretched service and giving it a “punch on the nose”.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, left, said the Government’s failure to increase police pay by three per cent had damanged morale and could hinder efforts to hire and retain staff.

Ms Dick branded the decision to impose a two per cent rise and ignore the independent Pay Review Body’s recommendation of three per cent as a “punch on the nose”.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid yesterday admitted police forces were not receiving enough cash, despite increases over the past three years.

Ms Dick told the Police Superintendents’ Association Annual Conference in Leicester: “This is the second year in a row the Government has rejected the Pay Review Body’s recommendations in favour of a lower award.

“I think this is wrong in principle, because it leaves the PRB process in tatters, and undermines the careful balance that protects officers’ rights, and wrong in practice.

“In my view, and I appreciate I don’t see the whole view, it flies in the face of evidence and rational argument. And wrong because, although I accept that any final decision is one for the Government, it hasn’t been explained very well yet and we have heard no proposal about how to rebuild confidence.

“I am sorry to say I do think that decision will have affected morale. I don’t want the Government to wait until we are struggling like the prison service with chronic understaffing.”

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The Commissioner added: “I need to think, how can I recruit and how can I retain and how can I make my officers and staff feel that I really value them? Because I feel this is a punch on the nose.”

The senior officer said the Met provided evidence for why officers should receive a three per cent increase.

She added: “It is a matter of principle that officers must have confidence in an independent body deciding on their pay.

“It is worth looking at the rhetoric when the Pay Review Body was set up.

“Officers cannot strike and that is quite right, but it is unlike other front line workers, and that in my view puts an obligation on the Government to respect the carefully developed argument and recommendations of the Pay Review Body.”

Police officer numbers have fallen to 122,204 – down 21,000 from 143,734 since 2010.

Meanwhile, the number of police support staff has also fallen by almost 17,000 in eight years to 62,820.

A scathing report by the National Audit Office highlighted how forces were struggling to cope with additional demands, with the average time it takes to charge a suspect rising from 14 days in 2016 to 18 in the year to March.

Arrest rates have also fallen to 14 per 1,000 population, down from 17 in 2014-15.

Shadow policing minister Louise Haigh said of Ms Dick’s comments: “The Government’s universally unpopular pay offer to the police is being met with the contempt it deserves.

“This below-inflation pay deal will continue to eat away at the living standards of our brave police officers, and will inevitably lead to job losses. When ministers praise our chronically overstretched police officers and then cut their real-terms pay, is it any wonder many of them are leaving the service in droves?”

But Mr Javid defended the Government’s handling of the pay review.

He told the conference: “I took it seriously but what I have to do at the same time when it comes to pay recommendations though – you’ll know that pay recommendations across the board for millions of public sector workers, we have to as a Government take them all into account – you’re trying to get that balance between affordability, what is recommended and fairness to tax payers. I recognise that there is a need for more resources.”

Arrest rates have also fallen to 14 per 1,000 population, down from 17 in 2014-15 (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

There has been an increase in resources in the last three years but I don’t think it is enough given the challenges, the complexities and the crimes that you are facing

He defended the Government’s record on policing, insisting an extra £1billion had been invested over the past three years.

But he signalled a potential clash with Chancellor Philip Hammond as he vowed to fight for more funding for police forces in the upcoming Spending Review.

In a speech to the Police Superintendents’ Association Annual Conference, he was “confident” he could persuade the Treasury to give him more money.

Mr Javid said: “There has been an increase in resources in the last three years but I don’t think it is enough given the challenges, the complexities and the crimes that you are facing. That is why I have said the best time, the best way for me to really make a big difference here is through the upcoming spending review, which will start next year.

The number of police support staff has also fallen by almost 17,000 in eight years to 62,820 (Image: Deniss Kantorovics/Getty Images)

“I have already said quite clearly that my priority will be policing.”

An extra £21million has been allocated to tackle online child sexual exploitation and over £50million will be invested to boost capabilities to combat cyber crime.

Police forces will also receive an extra £40million over the next two years to tackle serious violence as knife and gun crime soar.

Police chiefs have warned officers are increasingly being attacked as the service teeters on the brink.

Mr Javid said he will ensure police chiefs can award bonuses of up to £4,000 for superintendents in challenging roles and officers in hard-to-fill jobs.

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“I do fully recognise the pressures on policing so let me be very clear with you,” he said.

“I will continue to fight on the police’s behalf so that you have the resources that you need to do your jobs effectively.”

The Home Secretary said he will ensure police are “equipped to deal with the changing crime landscape”.

He told delegates: “When I stood up at the Police Federation conference in May, I said that I would stand with the front line, that I would do all I can to support your teams, and that I would listen to the police.

“It is these three principles that inform every single decision I make about policing as Home Secretary.”

Durham Chief Constable Mike Barton yesterday admitted that decisions on police funding were “sometimes in the hands of the Treasury”.

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My daughter has just started a part-time job with a chain of clothes stores.

She’s 19 years old and describes her job as “fun, sometimes a bit boring but with some lovely people”.

She’s paid around £7.50 per hour.

As a comparison, a police officer joining the force today will be paid just under £9.50 per hour.

Like my daughter’s job, it’s often fun, occasionally boring and there are some genuinely lovely people. But we also deal with society’s worst.

We are assaulted, spat at, abused. We are threatened and those threats often extend to our families. We deal with tragedy every day. Such is The Job.

Simon Kempton: "Ours is one of the most stressful roles one can accept." (Image: NC)

Ours is one of the most stressful roles one can accept, both in terms of the situations we are asked to deal with and, increasingly, the sheer volume of work.

Crime is increasing at the same time that officer numbers are being decimated and incidents are becoming ever more complex.

Simply put, there aren’t enough of us to provide the public with the service they deserve and that is soul destroying for us.

More than ever, senior officers are having to draw from the well of goodwill, the spring which has kept policing afloat since the first Peelers took office in 1829 but which has always been given freely.

But even though policing remains, just, a vocation, we should not have to rely on goodwill to keep the wheel on. There was a bond between government and our police; in return for a decent (though far from free) pension and stable pay rises which respected the work we did, we would put The Job above all else.

We would accept the myriad restrictions on not only our lives but those of our families.

We would, with quiet humour, cancel those anniversary dinners and children’s plays in order to complete an important file or arrest an outstanding offender.

But then government broke that bond.

Since 2010, at a time our job is more dangerous than ever, our pay has fallen by more than 18 per cent relative to inflation.

Our pensions have been attacked so that, whilst still comparatively generous, we will work much longer, pay much more in and get far less out.